As a web designer, getting paid for your hard work is a crucial aspect of your business. However, collecting payment from clients can be a challenging process. In this blog post, we'll explore a feature of WebStarts that can help you ensure that your time and effort is respected, and that you get paid for your work: watermarking.

WebStarts is a website builder that offers a range of features to help you create a professional-looking website. One of its key features is the ability to watermark your website. You may have heard of watermarking photos and videos, where a watermark is added to ensure that the owner gets credit for the content. Watermarking your website works in a similar way.

Before we dive in, it's important to note that the watermark feature is only available for those who have agency features enabled within their WebStarts account. If you're not sure whether agency features are enabled, you can click on the drop-down in the top right-hand corner, click "Settings," scroll down to the agency features section, and enable them if you haven't already done so.

So, how does watermarking work in WebStarts? Let's take a look at an example. You can see in this example that I've added my company logo, which is tiled across the page content. The logo is transparent, so all of the page content is still clickable. This allows my clients to get a feel for the site design and user experience, while also being reminded that my work is copyrighted.

When I show my mockups to clients with the watermark, I let them know that when they pay their final deposit, I'll remove the watermark so they can share the published website freely with their audience. It's also a good idea to charge a monthly hosting fee for your website. If a client fails to pay the hosting fee before the due date, the watermark goes back up, which usually motivates them to pay their outstanding invoice pretty quickly.

Now, let's dive into how to add a watermark to your website using WebStarts. From the all sites view or the dashboard view, hover over the website thumbnail and select "watermark" from the drop-down. Switch the toggle to the "On" position and customize your watermark. You can replace the default logo with your own logo by clicking the pencil icon to edit and then selecting your logo from the file manager. You can also customize it further by adjusting the size, spacing, opacity, rotation, and grayscale. When you're happy with your watermark, click "update," and it will be applied to your page.

Once you exit the watermark modal and click the link to the published version of your website, you'll see that the watermark is displayed. Removing the watermark is just as easy. Select "watermark" from the site actions drop-down and switch the toggle to the "off" position. Click "update," and the watermark is removed.

In conclusion, watermarking your website using WebStarts is a simple and effective way to protect your work and ensure that you get paid for your time and effort. It's just one of the many great agency features that WebStarts offers to help you be the best web designer, freelancer, or marketing firm you can be. Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you again soon.